Insidious Fairy: Rebirth
by The Shrubbery King
Summary: He's not dead. That's surprising. But what seems to be more surprising is the fact that he's now a world away from home and that he's fallen victim to a bad case of mistaken identity. What's more, the mages that brought him back to life are after him for some nefarious purpose. REWRITE OF THE BLOODY AWFUL FANFIC I WROTE, INSIDIOUS FAIRY


In a darkened room, several hooded figured scurried around setting up various machines, delicate glass instruments and arcane items while hushed whispers floated through the room, doubting wether their experiment would succeed.

"Are we sure we've got the right one?"

"What if it doesn't work? I mean, we'd need an R-System to bring someone back to life."

"He's not dead you idiot, I keep telling you that! People don't die over there, their souls just get… removed. Don't ask me how it works; it's an entirely different dimension!"

The door to the room opened and an imposing figure in a long black robe and a long scarf embroidered with silvery thread strode into the room.

"Do you have his soul?" he asked a hooded figure next to the complicated setup.

"Yes sir." The man said, presenting a small box covered in chains. The man in the robe took the box and carried it over to the experimental equipment before unravelling the chains from the box.

"Finally, after all these years of searching through the multiverse." The man grinned, opening the box and revealing the gently pulsing round soul inside, its purple glow lighting the man's sharp and hawkish features. "We finally have Zeref's soul."

"Master Geralt, I… I'm not too sure about this. What if it's not him?" a hooded mage asked.

Geralt frowned and put a hand up to the man that spoke and splayed his fingers. The man that had spoken out walked stiffly towards Geralt, his voice quavering with fear as Geralt clamped his hand around the hooded figure's throat.

"I have been working too long to be second guessing myself. I suggest you do the same." He said, throwing the man to the ground as he returned his attention to the device before him. "Is it ready?"

"We completed the machine just as you came in Master." One of the hooded men said. The machine itself looked like a giant cross shaped coffin surrounded by glass alembics and strips of cloth complicated sigils and runes inscribed upon them hanging from the tops of the alembics.

A smile appeared on Geralt's face as he closed the box again. "Then let's bring him back."

Geralt pushed the box into a slot in the open coffin. As he drew his hands out the coffin doors slammed shut and the mages around forced their magic into the glass instruments. Different elements boiled and fused together in the tubes as they were pumped into the coffin. Eventually Geralt held up his hand to signal the other mages to stop. Geralt threw open the coffin and smiled.

"We've done it! Zeref has returned!" He shouted, raising his hands into the air. As the body inside fell to his hands and knees.

"What happened to his hands?" one of the mages asked aghast.

"You idiot! You added too much fire!" screamed another. "It's ruined!"

"Wait, there's something else in there." Another mage said. "Why are there two gauntlets in there?"

"Somebody must have added too much earth." chided a wizard.

"But why gauntlets?" asked another.

The young figure on the floor stood up and stared at the room around him before sitting backwards, bumping into the back of the coffin. Looking up, he was his gauntlets and quickly seized them, clamping them onto his arms.

"What is this place? Who are you?" he asked, looking around.

"It… It's not him?" Geralt gasped, smoothing back his silvery hair tied back into a short ponytail. "But he looks so much like him. It has to be him!"

The recently revived teenager began to feel faint as he fell unconscious and slumped into the back of the coffin.

"He's not dead is he?" a robed man asked.

"No. Bring him to the room you have prepared for him. Find him some clothes as well." Geralt said as he swept himself from the room. "Even if he is not the true Zeref, he will be our greatest weapon!"

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Insidious awoke again in a room of stone bricks on a surprisingly lavish bed. Raising up his hands, he saw that he still had his gauntlets, but there was something else. He seemed to be dressed in very expensive looking dark clothes with a fine blue jacket and black leather boots on his feet. Getting up from the bed Insidious' head began to spin, but eventually the feeling subsided.

Insidious noticed the metal door at the other end of the room and tugged lightly at the door handle, unable to open it.

"Locked? Well I'll soon fix that." Insidious chuckled, scratching at the metal lock. Placing a gauntleted hand over the rune, he quietly spoke the command. "_Unlock_."

Something Insidious didn't quite expect was a small brass coloured circle of light to appear in front of his fingers before shrinking and gliding into the lock. A loud click was heard as Insidious pushed open the door, seeing nothing down the hallway. However when he turned around, he saw that the guard at the door staring at him in fear and disbelief! The guard grabbed his sword, a wickedly curved scimitar and brandished it at Insidious.

"G-get back in there! The Master has ordered that you're not to leave your room until he returns!" he stammered.

Insidious frowned and gripped the metal scimitar. "He is your master, not mine." He scowled before wrenching the blade from his grip and slamming a metal fist into the guard's face, the guard slamming against the wall and knocking him unconscious.

"Okay, that's probably alerted someone. I'd better get out of here." Insidious mumbled to himself, swinging the scimitar around. "This'll do for now, but I'll have to find something more to my liking later."

Insidious ran through the stone corridors, peeking around corners and evading the other hooded figures that stalked the corridors.

'Who the hell are all these people?' Insidious thought as he waited for the patrols to leave before running through the corridors in search of the exit. Eventually he found what he was looking for. A window!

"Alright, time to leave." Insidious said, clicking his heels together. "_Seven League Boots, Fly_!"

But nothing happened. Looking at the soles of his shoes, Insidious saw that there were none of his runes carved into the bottoms of his boots.

"Ah. Damn." He mumbled to himself. "Looks like I won't be getting out that way."

"Hey! There he is!" shouted someone from the other end of the corridor.

Insidious cursed under his breath and ran through the corridor until he encountered a group of the hooded figures.

"You're not going to get past us!" one of them shouted, a complicated magic circle appearing in their hand before a burst of black flame erupted from their hands.

'Magic?' Insidious thought as he dodged around the fire. "You people are Witches?"

"What?" one of them asked. "We're not Witches, we're mages!"

"Mages?" Insidious echoed, furrowing his brow in thought.

What Insidious failed to noticed was another robed man had snuck up behind him and grappled him. "I have him!" he shouted.

Insidious gritted his teeth and slammed the back of his head into the bridge of the other man's nose before pushing him away and readying his scimitar. The other mages fired their magic and Insidious ducked low and dodged, trying not to be hit. Ripping a small stone from the ground he quickly scratched over the rock before tossing it at the mages.

"Explode!" he ordered, pointing his fingers at the small stone before it erupted violently into a shower of tiny stones, creating enough of a gap for Insidious to leap through and continue running. Insidious rounded several corners until he found another window. By the time the other mages rounded the corner, Insidious was long gone.

"Damn! He must've escaped through the window!" one of them shouted.

"Geralt is going to have our heads if we don't bring him back." Another cowered.

"We have to find him. Spread out! He can't have gone far!"

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Insidious was running for a while, occasionally checking over his shoulder to see if he was being pursued. Charging through the forest, he eventually arrived at a road paved with flat stones.

"I guess since I'm not being followed anymore, I can just follow this road for a while." Insidious shrugged, heading down the road.

It was only then that Insidious got a closer look at his surroundings. Lush trees sprang up from the ground all around and birds sang in their canopies, occasionally flitting between them under a sky as blue as sapphire with barely a cloud in sight.

"What is this place? I'm definitely not anywhere near Death City anymore." Insidious mumbled as he continued on.

Everything he saw looked so clean and crisp, like the colour was bursting from the pages of a fairy tale picture book. Eventually, Insidious reached a small town. From the road, he saw shopkeepers going about their daily routines, people roaming about and children playing. But when he neared the town, the people began to act strangely. They pointed at him from up the road. Some started whispering. When he got closer the shopkeepers closed their doors, and so did many of the townspeople. By the time he got into the town, it looked deserted.

"What's going on here?" he thought to himself before marching onwards, looking around the town. Occasionally he caught glimpses of people peering fearfully through their shutters, but when their eyes met they would scurry away and hide. Insidious tried the front door to a shop, but the door held fast. Insidious frowned and turned away, arms crossed.

"Fine then. I don't know what's going on here but I don't care to find out." Insidious grumbled, turning on his heel and striding out of the town. As he left, people emerged warily from their houses and gathered together.

"Do you think that was really him?"

"He certainly looked like how the tales depicted him."

"What is he planning? Why has he returned?"

"I don't know, but that's something for the Magic Council to find out."

"He's right. We have to get word out about this!"

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Days later, Insidious was feeling miserable. He was hungry, there wasn't a town in sight and to cap it all off, it had begun to rain. At least he'd been able to put some flying runes on his boots as well as found a dead animal that he skinned and made into a sheath for the wide scimitar which he had slung onto his back. It was just too bad he couldn't use his boots to go faster, since the wind and the rain was too ferocious. Insidious trudged on, dripping wet from the rain until he eventually saw something in the distance. The warm glow of lights. By the road a squat little building sat on cobblestone foundations with a thatched roof and wooden walls, light and music spilling from the windows.

"Well, better than sitting out here all night." He muttered to himself.

As Insidious opened the door to the tavern, he felt several pairs of eyes swivel into his direction. As he walked to the counter, the barman looked at him and started trembling slightly. As Insidious sat on a stool, several people shuffled away from him.

There was an uncomfortable silence that descended on the bar as more people were alerted to Insidious' presence and a low whispering murmur went through the inn. Insidious looked around cautiously, trying to see if anyone was about to make a move against him.

"You… You're Zeref aren't you?" a voice asked fearfully. Insidious turned around, red eyes piercing in the soft glow of the lights. The man who had spoken, a weighty looking man in merchant's clothes, cowered slightly in his chair.

Insidious stood up, a metal hand on the bar. "No, that's not my name. I don't know who this Zeref person is, but you have all mistaken me for someone else." Insidious said clearly.

The silence returned before the innkeeper cleared his throat. "Well as long as you're not going to cause any trouble, you are welcome at the Exhausted Wanderer Inn." He smiled underneath his moustache.

"Thanks. It's good to find someone friendly here." Insidious said, turning back to the bar. "So… Where am I anyway?"

The innkeeper looked slightly confused by Insidious' question before responding. "Well, this inn is on one of the roads leading to the city of Magnolia."

"Magnolia?" Insidious echoed, a thumb to his chin. "Never heard of that place before."

"Really? It's home to one of Fiorie's most famous, or rather infamous guilds." snorted the man next to Insidious. "Fairy Tail. Surely you've heard of them."

'Fiorie? Guilds? Am I even on the same world anymore?' Insidious thought as he shook his head. "No, don't think so."

"Really? You must be from really far away then." The man said. "So, what do they call you traveller?"

"My name is Insidious. I'm a warlock." He responded.

"Warlock? Are you some special kind of mage?" asked another person.

"You mean like the people that attacked me?" Insidious asked.

Several people were looking between each other as they listened to Insidious' story slowly unfolding.

"Who attacked you?" the innkeeper asked.

"A lot of men, all in dark hooded robes. They kept shouting something about their master, but I didn't care to listen to their ramblings as I escaped." Insidious said.

Another hush descended on the inn again. "You mean… You escaped from the Dark Guild that's rumoured to be somewhere around here?"

"Dark Guild?" Insidious asked.

"Evil mages that have devoted their craft to the dark arts." Someone said. "There are several rumours of a coven of them nearby, and reports of travellers disappearing off the road only to reappear moments later, scars all over their body from twisted experiments."

Insidious narrowed his eyes. If those people were about to experiment on him, he was glad he escaped when he did.

"They apparently go by the name Nix Scroll, but nobody's really sure." Another person chimed in.

The innkeeper looked about warily before slamming a hand on the bar. "Alright, closing time! If there's a Dark Guild on the prowl I don't want my inn destroyed! All those who rented rooms for the night get to sleep; you'll have to be out by morning."

As many weary travellers grumbled as they rose from their chairs, the innkeeper turned to Insidious.

"You'd best get out of here kid. Dark Guilds are no small threat and from what you've said it sounds like they might be coming after you. And I can't endanger the people that are staying here. You understand, right?" he reasoned.

Insidious nodded wordlessly and left the inn, the rain beginning to let up.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

The sky outside the classroom window was bluer than ever. White fluffy clouds drifted over the hot and barren Nevada desert, with barely a drop of rain between them. Maka found herself leaning against one of her arms, lost in thought. It really wasn't like her to be daydreaming. But ever since Insidious died, nobody had quite been the same. Black Star was still as awestruck with himself as anyone could be, Kid was as obsessed with symmetry as ever and Maka was still a diligent student. But something didn't sit right with Maka. She didn't quite know what it was, but somehow she knew it had something to do with Insidious.

With a rush of wind and a soft thud, a blackboard eraser bounced off Maka's head, sending her crashing to the ground and leaving a white imprint on her forehead.

"Please pay attention, Miss Albarn." Stein said before returning to the blackboard, with a faint grin on his face. He never thought he would ever get to do that. Another unique experience to cross off his bucket list.

"You okay Maka?" Soul asked, helping his partner up off the floor.

"I'm fine. I was just thinking about stuff." She said, getting back to her seat.

"Stuff?" Soul asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you know, stuff." Maka said, settling back into her seat.

The professor at the front of the room cleared his throat before returning to the lesson. After the final bell rang, Maka was one of the first ones out of the Academy doors. She had too much to think about, so now she just wanted to relax and read a book. She could practice with her weapon transformations later.

Maka had only found out after the fight with the Kishin that she had somehow gained the ability to turn into a weapon. A scythe to be precise. Her father was unbelievably proud and unbearably stupid when he discovered this even after Maka's best efforts to hide it. She couldn't help it! When he walked in with that stupid look on his face her arm just turned into a scythe blade! He wouldn't shut up for five hours straight!

Finally reaching her apartment, she found Crona opening the door.

"Oh, hi Crona!" Maka waved.

"Hi Maka. How are you?" the androgynous weapon meister asked.

"I'm fine. How are you and Ragnarok getting along?" she asked.

"He's fine too, just taking a nap. I was going to stop by Miss Sophia's bakery to buy some more of that Kishin Bread. I could get some for you if you want." Crona offered.

"I'm alright thanks." She said.

Crona left for the bakery and Maka stepped inside. Soul had gone to visit Black Star and Tsubaki for some kind of anime marathon. Something about ninjas or pirates or whatever. So now she was all alone to enjoy a nice relaxing…

"Meow."

Of course it wouldn't be that easy.

"Hello Blair." Maka grumbled as the cat witch weaved between her legs.

"Well that's not a nice greeting." The cat pouted. Maka walked over to the couch and sat down heavily before opening her book on a nearby table. Blair jumped up onto her lap and looked at the pages. "So what're you reading? A steamy romance novel?"

"I'm not like you, cat!" Maka said sourly.

"You really should lighten up Maka, you're always so serious." Blair giggled.

"Yeah, well I've had a lot of serious things to think about." Maka said.

"But if you keep thinking about that sort of stuff you'll get all these nasty wrinkles on your face. Then you'll never get to find a man." Blair said, pawing playfully at Maka's face.

Maka slammed her book shut, almost clamping it on Blair's tail as she did and stood up.

"You know, I think I'll go meet Crona at the bakery." She huffed, marching out of the front door and onto the street.

Not long afterwards, Maka arrived at Sophia's bakery. It was packed like it usually was with weapons and the occasional meister as well as several normal citizens of Death City who just wanted a normal loaf of bread.

Behind the counter Sophia rushed around, bagging the small loaves of red coloured bread for the weapons as they flocked to her in droves. Maka gave an amused smile and sat down at one of the tables and waited for the huge queues to die down. As the rush eventually settled, Sophia wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand.

"I really should hire some more people to take care of this place, I barely made it today." She sighed before spotting Maka as she walked to the counter. "Hey there Maka, how's Soul?"

"He's alright." Maka nodded happily. "How has the bakery been doing?"

Sophia sighed and dusted off her apron. "I still haven't really gotten used to the amount of customers! I've only been selling this Kishin Bread for two months and it's brought in more money than I know what to do with. I really should hire some people to help me out around here."

"Well there are plenty of students around that'd be glad to get a part time job or something. I bet Soul would be happy about the extra spending money if he got off his butt and did something useful." Maka chortled.

"Yeah." Sophia smiled before leaning closer to Maka. "You look like you've got something on your mind. What's wrong?"

Maka sighed and scratched her head. "I've been getting this really weird feeling that something might have happened. I'm not sure, but maybe it has something to do with Insidious."

"Insidious?" Sophia asked delicately. "What's he got to do with this?"

"I'm not sure. I was thinking of visiting his grave later today to see if I might be able to figure out what it is. Did you want to come with me?" Maka asked.

Sophia thought about it for a while before nodding. "I guess it couldn't hurt. It has been a while since we last visited him. We'll go after I close up for the night, alright?"

"Sure." Maka nodded.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Later in the day, Maka was waiting outside Death City until Sophia showed up.

"Alright, what are we waiting for? Let's go." Sophia said as she arrived.

Maka nodded and the two began walking out of the city and towards the hill where Insidious had been buried

"So Maka, how have your weapon transformations been going?" Sophia asked.

"Papa says I've been taking to it quickly, but I have a feeling I've still got a lot to learn." Maka shrugged. "Soul has been practicing wielding me as well, although he can get a bit rough with me at times."

A sultry grin appeared on Sophia's face and a vein began to pulse in Maka's forehead as she reached for her book.

"Hey, hey, it was your poor wording! I didn't say a thing!" Sophia laughed.

"I didn't mean like that!" Maka roared. "You're as bad as Blair!"

As they approached gravesite, Maka felt the uneasy feeling grow within her.

"Well, we're almost there." Sophia said grimly before they reached the top. When they did get to the top, Sophia gasped in shock. "What the hell?!"

"What? What is it?" Maka asked as she got to the top as well and saw the destruction. Insidious' grave marker had been torn from the ground and thrown to the ground, the area where they'd placed it roughly dug up. His mother's monument had also been destroyed, the shattered rocks laying scattered across the ground and the purple sash long since lost to the wind, the only thing left remaining was the crudely shaped bloodstained cross that once topped the monument.

"Who did this?" Sophia growled.

"I don't know." Maka said, a hand to her chin in thought. "We should probably tell the others of what happened here. Buried souls don't just disappear on their own."

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Insidious felt like he had been walking for ages, and there wasn't even another person on the road as he walked. But as he walked, he heard something rustle in the bushes beside the road. Quickly unsheathing his scimitar, Insidious stared around trying to find the source of the noise. Carefully crouching down, he quickly scratched a rune into the ground.

As Insidious began walking again, he walked a fair distance before several mages in dark cloaks burst from the surrounding foliage, weapons and spells at the ready. Deflecting the strike of a spear with the wide scimitar, Insidious elbowed the man in the face before ducking under a poorly aimed bolt of lightning.

"Capture him! Geralt is going to have our heads if we let him get any further!" shouted a mage desperately.

As the mages converged on Insidious all at once, he quickly scratched at the ground.

"_Teleport_!" he commanded as the earth began to swallow him up, the mages falling to the ground as he vanished and reappeared several metres away. Scratching the ground again, Insidious began to run back.

"After him!" shouted the mages. As they pursued, Insidious gave a smirk as he whipped around and pointed to the rune he had scratched below the Nix Scroll wizards' feet.

"_Explode_!" he ordered. An orange magic circle flashed before the flagstones of the road began to bulge and erupted into fire and rubble with a deafening bang, sending the mages flying head over heels.

Taking his chance, Insidious ran past the dazed wizards and ran down the road and sheathed his scimitar, allowing himself a small chuckle as he ran.

Something glinted in the tree line that caught Insidious' eye at the last moment. A loud bang was heard and a magical projectile sailed towards Insidious. Reacting quickly, Insidious dropped low and slid under the bullet as more of the Nix Scroll mages dropped onto the road.

"Damn, I'll never be rid of these people." Insidious grumbled as he drew his scimitar again.

"Capture him men!" one of them roared as they fired their weapons. Insidious was about to begin fleeing when a flash of silver streaked across his vision. All the dark mages fell to the ground with an audible thud as a woman with red hair and silver armour looked at Insidious.

'Is that… No, that's not Spirit. Spirit doesn't have... Whatever.' Insidious thought, shaking his head. "Thank you for helping me, but who are you?"

"I'm the one who's going to be asking the questions here." The woman said, a scowl on her face as she readied her sword. "What are you doing here Zeref?"

'Ugh, this again?' Insidious thought. "Look, I don't know this Zeref person, but I'm not him. My name is Insidious, not Zeref."

"Is that so?" Erza asked sceptically. "You look almost exactly like him."

"Look, I've got no idea who this Zeref person is, but people have been following me ever since I... I don't know exactly what happened. Anyway, I have no idea what this place is, but it's certainly a good distance from Death City." Insidious said, clenching his iron-clad hands.

'Death City? What is he talking about?' the woman thought. "I think you'd better come with me."

"If it's anything like what these guys had planned for me, then I don't think so." Insidious said, gripping the scimitar.

"I was afraid it would come to this." The woman said, readying her sword. "If you won't come quietly then I'll have to take you to Fairy Tail by force."

'Fairy Tail? Have I heard that before?' Insidious thought before he was snapped out of his thoughts as the woman charged towards him. Blocking the downward strike, Insidious reached out to scratch a rune on the woman's breastplate but she pulled away as Insidious reached out.

The woman slashed horizontally and Insidious tried to block again, but the force of the strike sent him tumbling into a tree. Crashing against the heavy wooden trunk, Insidious fell with a thud.

"I think it's time for you to give up." The woman said as she walked towards Insidious.

"_Seven League Boots, Fly_." Insidious muttered as he scratched a rune on the tree trunk. "_Explode_!"

After another orange circle appeared the tree exploded into splinters as Insidious soared upwards, the explosion causing the woman to raise her arms to defend herself just long enough for Insidious to escape. Striding through the air, Insidious looked down behind him.

"Heh. No way she'll be able to catch up to me now." He breathed.

"You should not underestimate me." The woman said, flying just above Insidious in her Heaven's Wheel armour.

"What the-" Insidious began before the woman swung down with two swords.

Insidious raised his scimitar to block, but the woman's swords bid deep into the blade, almost breaking the sword. Insidious released his grip on the blade and leapt backwards, leaving the scimitar between the two blades.

'Damn it! No paper runes, no weapons and this woman just isn't letting up! What am I gonna do now?' Insidious thought.

"Well, I think you've proven to me that you're not Zeref." The woman said, letting go of her swords as they vanished into thin air. "I don't think that's something that Zeref could do. What did you call yourself again?"

"Insidious." He said defensively.

"Right. And you're not a dark wizard?" she asked.

"No! The guys chasing me are!" Insidious said, looking down to try and see if there were any more of the dark cloaked individuals running around.

"Well then, I think it may be best for you to join Fairy Tail." The woman said. "Come on, it's not that far from here."

Insidious thought a little bit more about where he had heard the name before. "Hang on, isn't Fairy Tail one of the most infamous guilds?"

"Well, we do have a bit of a certain… reputation." the woman mumbled. "But we're by no means bad people."

Insidious considered what the woman was saying before sighing. "Alright, I'll go with you."

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

"Whazzat? Insidious' grave has been desecrated?" Lord Death asked.

Maka nodded as Sophia stepped forward. "The entire grave was destroyed, as was his mother's. All his weapons and offerings were still there, so they mustn't have been grave robbers. Someone wanted his soul."

Lord Death hummed in thought as he lifted a boxy finger to his mask in thought. "Yes, this is quite strange. It may be possible that there might be a weapon that had stolen his soul with the intent of eating it, but nobody here at the DWMA is approaching becoming a Death Scythe that quickly."

Sophia looked at Maka with concern and looked back to Lord Death. "So, what are we going to do? We've got no idea where his soul might be or who took it. Or where they are for that matter."

"You are quite right. However, there is one way we can track him down that I think you've all forgotten about." Lord Death said. "Sophia, do you remember that tracking device that Stein implanted into you and Insidious?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, that was morally questionable. But how's that going to help us now?" Sophia asked.

"Well, as some Witches are able to remove their own soul and implant it into other beings similar to their chosen Aspect, Stein worked around that by implanting the tracking device directly into Insidious' soul." Lord Death said. "So really we should be able to find whoever took Insidious' soul. I'm sure Stein can whip up a radar or something to help you track down Insidious' soul."

Maka smiled and bowed gratefully. "Thank you Lord Death! Come on Sophia, we've got to go find Insidious' soul!"


End file.
